Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 250GB SATA 150

The second 250GB Hitachi 7K250 is a Sata drive. However, its spec is nearly identical to the ATA100 model. It uses a parallel-to-serial bridge chip, just like the Sata offerings from Maxtor and Western Digital.

Serial power and data connectors sit on the back of the drive, as well as a legacy Molex four-pin power connector. This gives you the best of all worlds as you can power the drive using either connector.

If you have an old power supply you can use the Molex connector, but get the benefit of the slender serial data cable. If you use a power supply with serial connectors, or a power adapter, you get the benefit of hot plugging.

Frankly it doesn't matter how the manufacturer adopts serial technology so long as there isn't a performance penalty. Here, Hitachi scored strongly. The Serial 7K250 performs in a very similar fashion to its ATA100 sibling. However, we got one odd result in application loading which hurt the overall score.

Our biggest concern is the £29 premium that Hitachi charges for the privilege of those serial connectors. This makes the drive unattractive, which is a shame it has so much to offer for people who are keen to move over to Sata.

Contact: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies 020 7133 032
www.hgst.com